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CNN Live At Daybreak
Libya's About Face
Aired December 23, 2003 - 05:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: Moammar Gadhafi tells CNN it is not important why Libya decided to renounce weapons of mass destruction, only that it has agreed to do so. In an exclusive interview with CNN's State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel, the long time Libyan leader said international inspections will prove Libya has nothing to hide. He said he hopes other countries will follow Libya's example.
Colonel Gadhafi also appeared to renounce international terrorism, comparing it to a spreading cancer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The al Qaeda is rather difficult, a rather complicated matter because it was widely, widespread before any action was taken against it. It's like a cancer. You cannot cure it or you cannot treat it if it has spread in the body. But once it is detected at the early stages or in the early, then there is a good chance you can fight it and cure it. Actually, we are facing cancerous cells everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIRFER: Libya's about face is remarkable after decades of being labeled a terrorist state by the U.S. But even U.S. allies in the war on terrorism are subject to scrutiny. Pakistan's top nuclear scientists have been interviewed by their government about possibly giving nuclear secrets to Iran and other countries. The Pakistani government denies any official involvement, but admits some of its scientists could have been the sources of such vital information.
For more on both the Pakistani nuclear issue and Gadhafi's about face, we now turn to our senior international editor, David Clinch -- good morning.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Holly, good morning.
FIRFER: It seems like everybody's talking about now Pakistan's involvement, possibly, in Libya, Iran and elsewhere around the world.
CLINCH: Right. You know, one of the things I love about this job is not the big pay and the fame and everything, it's the unpredictability. We started this year talking about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now, we haven't stopped talking about that, but we're ending this year talking about weapons of mass destruction in Libya, involvement by Pakistan, possibly.
Two things that I think are very interesting about those stories, Libya, Gadhafi, everything is trying to say why did Gadhafi do this?
Well, one thing that he keeps saying -- and it's logic and I need to stress it, it is his logic -- but one of the things he emphasized in the interview with Andrea yesterday is that in giving up weapons of mass destruction programs -- and he'/s saying they have no weapons -- and asking Iran and Syria to do the same, he's saying it may put pressure on Israel to give up its weapons of mass destruction.
Now, Israel doesn't even acknowledge having weapons of mass destruction.
FIRFER: Right.
CLINCH: But that is something that -- again, his logic -- I'm not saying that that will ever happen -- but that may be one of the driving factors from his point of view.
In Pakistan, we're hearing now, as we've been reporting, that they're interviewing top nuclear scientists about possible involvement in proliferation to Iran or elsewhere over the years. Now, again, nothing has been proven there. But one thing that was interesting just listening to a press conference from Pakistan there, these investigations, according to Pakistan now officially, were started when information was passed to them from the IAEA. So it is not just a continuation of general investigations that they've been going into, but apparently related specifically to information. They didn't say what that information was, but related specifically to information passed to them by the IAEA.
They say they're hdlg the investigation themselves internally in Pakistan. We'll be watching that very closely.
One other story, again, we started this year talking about the war on terror, we end it talking about the war on terror. One of the interesting things to me about particularly this terror alert in the United States this Christmas holiday season is how that plays internationally. You know, the rest of the world has always said before 9/11 and since 9/11, welcome to our world. The rest of the world has lived with terrorism for all of these years.
And now, interestingly, we've been talking to people in London and elsewhere about whether they're scared or even reconsidering their terror -- their travel plans to the United States because of this travel warning.
FIRFER: And what has been the reaction overseas?
CLINCH: Generally, again, it's sort of, you know, we've lived with this, we live with it here in London, we live with it in Europe, we live with it in Asia, why should we be any more afraid in the United States?
But we are hearing that people are paying very close attention. These terror alerts are obviously being taken very seriously here...
FIRFER: And, in fact, the world. CLINCH: Absolutely. And I think people traveling to the United States are, at the very least, paying close attention to these terror warnings.
So that's interesting to sort of think that the United States is a scary place to go.
FIRFER: Exactly. Exactly.
CLINCH: I'll come back at six. An interesting Holocaust reunion story to talk about at 6:00 a.m.
FIRFER: I look forward to that.
Terrific.
Thank you, David.
CLINCH: OK.
FIRFER: We'll see you then.
CLINCH: All right.
FIRFER: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 23, 2003 - 05:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: Moammar Gadhafi tells CNN it is not important why Libya decided to renounce weapons of mass destruction, only that it has agreed to do so. In an exclusive interview with CNN's State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel, the long time Libyan leader said international inspections will prove Libya has nothing to hide. He said he hopes other countries will follow Libya's example.
Colonel Gadhafi also appeared to renounce international terrorism, comparing it to a spreading cancer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The al Qaeda is rather difficult, a rather complicated matter because it was widely, widespread before any action was taken against it. It's like a cancer. You cannot cure it or you cannot treat it if it has spread in the body. But once it is detected at the early stages or in the early, then there is a good chance you can fight it and cure it. Actually, we are facing cancerous cells everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIRFER: Libya's about face is remarkable after decades of being labeled a terrorist state by the U.S. But even U.S. allies in the war on terrorism are subject to scrutiny. Pakistan's top nuclear scientists have been interviewed by their government about possibly giving nuclear secrets to Iran and other countries. The Pakistani government denies any official involvement, but admits some of its scientists could have been the sources of such vital information.
For more on both the Pakistani nuclear issue and Gadhafi's about face, we now turn to our senior international editor, David Clinch -- good morning.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Holly, good morning.
FIRFER: It seems like everybody's talking about now Pakistan's involvement, possibly, in Libya, Iran and elsewhere around the world.
CLINCH: Right. You know, one of the things I love about this job is not the big pay and the fame and everything, it's the unpredictability. We started this year talking about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now, we haven't stopped talking about that, but we're ending this year talking about weapons of mass destruction in Libya, involvement by Pakistan, possibly.
Two things that I think are very interesting about those stories, Libya, Gadhafi, everything is trying to say why did Gadhafi do this?
Well, one thing that he keeps saying -- and it's logic and I need to stress it, it is his logic -- but one of the things he emphasized in the interview with Andrea yesterday is that in giving up weapons of mass destruction programs -- and he'/s saying they have no weapons -- and asking Iran and Syria to do the same, he's saying it may put pressure on Israel to give up its weapons of mass destruction.
Now, Israel doesn't even acknowledge having weapons of mass destruction.
FIRFER: Right.
CLINCH: But that is something that -- again, his logic -- I'm not saying that that will ever happen -- but that may be one of the driving factors from his point of view.
In Pakistan, we're hearing now, as we've been reporting, that they're interviewing top nuclear scientists about possible involvement in proliferation to Iran or elsewhere over the years. Now, again, nothing has been proven there. But one thing that was interesting just listening to a press conference from Pakistan there, these investigations, according to Pakistan now officially, were started when information was passed to them from the IAEA. So it is not just a continuation of general investigations that they've been going into, but apparently related specifically to information. They didn't say what that information was, but related specifically to information passed to them by the IAEA.
They say they're hdlg the investigation themselves internally in Pakistan. We'll be watching that very closely.
One other story, again, we started this year talking about the war on terror, we end it talking about the war on terror. One of the interesting things to me about particularly this terror alert in the United States this Christmas holiday season is how that plays internationally. You know, the rest of the world has always said before 9/11 and since 9/11, welcome to our world. The rest of the world has lived with terrorism for all of these years.
And now, interestingly, we've been talking to people in London and elsewhere about whether they're scared or even reconsidering their terror -- their travel plans to the United States because of this travel warning.
FIRFER: And what has been the reaction overseas?
CLINCH: Generally, again, it's sort of, you know, we've lived with this, we live with it here in London, we live with it in Europe, we live with it in Asia, why should we be any more afraid in the United States?
But we are hearing that people are paying very close attention. These terror alerts are obviously being taken very seriously here...
FIRFER: And, in fact, the world. CLINCH: Absolutely. And I think people traveling to the United States are, at the very least, paying close attention to these terror warnings.
So that's interesting to sort of think that the United States is a scary place to go.
FIRFER: Exactly. Exactly.
CLINCH: I'll come back at six. An interesting Holocaust reunion story to talk about at 6:00 a.m.
FIRFER: I look forward to that.
Terrific.
Thank you, David.
CLINCH: OK.
FIRFER: We'll see you then.
CLINCH: All right.
FIRFER: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
